Chevy & GMC Vans

We all know that owning/maintaining a car costs money and that at some point in the cars life it will cost you more than other times.

That being said, do you believe there is any benefit to buying a car with high mileage? You can almost assume that most things that will go wrong, have gone wrong, and have already been resolved. This is something I've been thinking about as I search for a small daily driver that gets good gas mileage. I could easily pick up a little 4 cyl. car with very high mileage for under $1000 and it would pay for itself in no time. The only problem is reliability and not wanting to sink any extra money into the car to keep it running (besides standard oil changes, etc.).

Just thought I would put this out there. I'd be interested to see what others think about this topic.

Only benefit is they can be purchased cheaply, and if they die, you can scrap it and get most of your money back.

I do this a lot, and get a couple of years out of $1000 to $1500 vans and cars. I also buy additional ones when I see a deal for parts, or to use when my current one dies.

This is only a good idea if you can repair them yourself.

I'm not a fan of high-mileage vehicles. Part of that is being old-school as it used to be, anything with 100K was likely on its last legs mechanically. Times have changed though and drivetrains go a lot longer than 100K. I don't know how many miles are on my wife's '05 MPV van... I think it is still under 100K... but both my truck and Focus wagon are sitting at 140K. My Safari, when it was parked, had around 160K. All of these high mileage vehicles start suffering from other issues. If you are lucky, it is just broken knobs and switches and trim pieces. But other things like water pumps, fuel pumps and etc. can go out and leave you stranded too. I hate being stranded!

But if a person just needs a commuter car, especially if they have a back-up vehicle at home, I think spending $1 to $1.5K on disposable transportation makes a lot of sense. The key is to know when to junk it and to not put more money into then you should. Me, I'm not very good at that as I grow attached to all my vehicles.

I have a hard time with the idea of buying 100K mile vehicles that are four or five years old and paying $15K and up for them. This seems to be the case with a lot of pickups and SUVs. In addition to a hefty car payment, you then get to pay for a lot of little repairs, and then somtimes bigger repairs like transmissions and such. My brother did this with an S-10 (although he only spent like $8K on it) and everytime I talk to him it seems he has had to fix something else.

rlsllc wrote:Only benefit is they can be purchased cheaply, and if they die, you can scrap it and get most of your money back.

I do this a lot, and get a couple of years out of $1000 to $1500 vans and cars. I also buy additional ones when I see a deal for parts, or to use when my current one dies.

This is only a good idea if you can repair them yourself.

Agreed

High mileage is fine with me!! I'll actually purchase fleet maintained high mileage cars. Around here the ones to look for are from AEP. (American Electric Power) They're nitorious for maintaining there cars maticiulously. My 02 Astro had a lot of miles on it when I got it from AEP and I've now got 370,000 miles on it and all I've had to do is the speed sensors, and I JUST got the head gaskets done. According to AEP's records, it still has the original tranmission and engine.
My 93 Astro I picked up for $600 when it had 270,000 on it and I ran the V6 till 311,000 until I pulled it to install my v8. It's got about 330,000 now and the body is just rusted so I'm stripping it for another project.
I would be more worried about a 10 year old car with 50,000 miles than I would a 5 year old car with 200,000 miles. Cause if it's that young with that many miles, it means it's never "sat" and is probably highway miles which don't hurt cars a whole lot. Look at Semi Trucks.
But that's just me. and......

astrozam wrote:

rlsllc wrote:Only benefit is they can be purchased cheaply, and if they die, you can scrap it and get most of your money back.

I do this a lot, and get a couple of years out of $1000 to $1500 vans and cars. I also buy additional ones when I see a deal for parts, or to use when my current one dies.

This is only a good idea if you can repair them yourself.

Agreed

I used to ascribe to my parent's opinion about used cars, "buy a used car and you are buying someone else's problem". that used to be very true through the 60', 70's and at least part of the 80's. I haven't bought a used car with as much as 100k miles on it, but I've now bought three with 40 to 80K miles on them. I don't think I'd buy anything with much more mileage than that on it.
oh wait, my astro is the oldest of the fleet with 147K on the odometer. Even though it was originally owned by my mother, it was not running well at all when I got it (as in barely), pretty much on life support. It was "free". Had the a/c system rebuilt for $1700. I've rebuilt transmission, the entire brake system and the fuel system stem to stern, epic tilt steering column repair, all the engine control and emissions sensors and a bunch of other crap I can't remember right now.

I guess if I knew the folks that owned the vehicle originally, and had some idea of how well they maintained their rides, I might go for a vehicle with that much mileage on it...but it'd have to very cheap. No such thing as a free lunch. you will either spend time or money, and sometimes both.

i bought my van with well over 100K miles on it and i've spent a fair amount on repairs but nothing major just normal Astro stuff. The engine runs strong even though it wasn't maintained well by it's previous owner. If i had to buy another i would probably grab another high mileage one (for price reasons) if it had service records.


The doing the work yourself I believe is the most important point if you cannot i would not buy a high mileage vehicle since the labor you'd be paying for repairs would offset your savings

It all boils down to personal finances. A new car payment can easily be $400 or more. And new doesn't mean good. Go down to your local new car dealerships and take a look at all of the new cars in their service bays. It's always cheaper to maintain a car than buy a new one. Of course you have to know how and be willing to do basic maintenance. For those folks that can't, well you are just stuck with payments and the high cost of service.

I'm with Smilie on this one. I buy the newest vehicle I can afford. And I wouldn't pay a cent for anything over a decade old.

Smiliesafari wrote: And new doesn't mean good. Go down to your local new car dealerships and take a look at all of the new cars in their service bays.

Yes, but most of those new cars being worked on are still under warranty. There is something to be said for a new car warranty. (I'm not saying it is worth the price of admission, just saying it is nice to have.)

mdmead wrote:

Smiliesafari wrote: And new doesn't mean good. Go down to your local new car dealerships and take a look at all of the new cars in their service bays.

Yes, but most of those new cars being worked on are still under warranty. There is something to be said for a new car warranty. (I'm not saying it is worth the price of admission, just saying it is nice to have.)

Warranty is what a person pays for.When a ride is
2 years old & has lost up to 1/2 it's original value a person still has to pay the
original price,Stupid IMO.
Imagine $1000 - $1500 a month car payment + fuel + insurance & your new car
depreciates every day,Doesn't sound too hot does it.

unless i win the lottery, which i rarely play. I'd never buy anything only a couple of years old or new again: requiring monthly payments. I was stupid when I was younger, even though I was paid more. now, I get paid less, way less (go figure).. so maybe I'm more cautious?

I had a few (back in the 90's) that were nearly new (a couple of years old) that I paid $15,000 for and within a year or two they are worth $5000 - $7000 at best. if my payments were around $250 - $300/mth, in two years I'm paying out $6000 - $8000, but losing $8000 in depreciation. so.. the way I look at it now is: that car just cost me $16,000 to drive for 2yrs. PLUS any maintenance and repairs... even if i got $7000 (dreaming) on a private resale or way less on a trade in.. I'm only really covering the taxes on another newer vehicle and maybe a couple of months of payments. big deal.

heck, i still refer to my 99 stro as 'newer' .. people look at me funny but... I paid cash for it and have driven it for 3+ years with typical maintenance


I can't even fathom a $500 - $800 /mth car payment ... that is rent on a house or close to a mortgage payment (don't even get me started on why renting is better than buying LOL)

Logan wrote:High mileage is fine with me!! I'll actually purchase fleet maintained high mileage cars. Around here the ones to look for are from AEP. (American Electric Power) They're nitorious for maintaining there cars maticiulously. My 02 Astro had a lot of miles on it when I got it from AEP and I've now got 370,000 miles on it and all I've had to do is the speed sensors, and I JUST got the head gaskets done. According to AEP's records, it still has the original tranmission and engine.
My 93 Astro I picked up for $600 when it had 270,000 on it and I ran the V6 till 311,000 until I pulled it to install my v8. It's got about 330,000 now and the body is just rusted so I'm stripping it for another project.
I would be more worried about a 10 year old car with 50,000 miles than I would a 5 year old car with 200,000 miles.

I agree, the cars made in the last 5 years, both the components (drivetrains and suspension parts) as well the metal the vehicles are made from and the paint on the vehicles, are far superior to those for the 70's and early 80's

My only concern with fleet vehicles is that since the owners of the vehicles are not doing the driving or the maintenance, so sometimes they tend to beat on the vehicles badly, as it doesn't belong to them. That being said, I don't have a problem with high mileage vehicles and $1000/1500 is about all I pay for my vehicles, I put easily put 30 to 50K miles on them in a year or two and by then its usually time to replace them with another and get $300+ back when scrapping it (after pulling a few useful items off for future use)

I do it out of necessity, not so much the love of doing so, the vehicles are usually 15 to 20 years old before they're in my price range although my latest vehicle (2000 Astro) is a little newer than usual, but had over 200K when I got it, original trans rebuilt and reinstalled, hoping it will last for 2 or 3 years or more.... trying to work my lay up to the last couple years they were made, hoping that by the end, they were a lot better than the early years. I want the next one to be a high top, or to install a top on one to at least give the extra head room to help make up a little for what I've lost in width and length when I down sized from full sized van.

I have a cousin who uses his vehicles for a delivery vehicle and has put over 600K on his last three vehicles and sold or traded them in (still running) on the next vehicle, gave one to his son, who drove it for 6 months or a year and traded it in on a new(er) vehicle, sold my brother and S10 with over 600K on it for scrap price of 200. he's currently got an uplander and over 300K on it and still climbing. Maintenance is the key factor, and many people don't do what's needed to keep them on the road. I'm hoping by changing the oil often enough and using the high mileage synthetic blends and well as injector cleaners every so many tanks full of gas (and not using cheap gas when ever I can help it)